I just can't get over Ed Bickert's playing...

[mr. beaumont]

I enjoy listening to his playing.... but for me it's a bit - I do not know how to say - too conventional musically... it's a pleasure to listen, it's soothing, it's a real mastery on the instrument...
but as a listener - I feel like there were some more challenge musically... more going beyond conventional frames.

I noticed it often happens that any smooth master on guitar is called genius or something..
But I think master is one thing... and genius is another...

It's not irrespect to Bill of his admirers - don't shoot at me (as usually)!

Recently I listened to his album with pianist Bill Mays I think? It was enjoable listening.
( for those whome it may concern: the album was bought not stolen!)

Clearly you haven't transcribed any Ed

[fep]

Mike must really admire EB, he can't even remember his name!
A sax player I know saw MS playing Autumn Leaves at MSM in the 90s. He thought MS was a first year student.

Unfortunately there is a lot that Mike can't remember.

[Jonah]

Clearly you haven't transcribed any Ed

)))

Jeff, I did some actually - but it was spot... on Sometime Ago a few fragments.

but it was not much and occasional - more for fun.

But I can hear pretty many things without transcribing actually- I mean things that are significant musically in my opinion. (Transcribing is important for application and integration into one's own playing - but 'experienced listening' can be enough for perception)

Could you tell some specific fragment or idea that you found very interesting, specific or challenging - wahtever - so that I would also check it and see if we speak about the same thing?

Thank you

[Jonah]

Unfortunately there is a lot that Mike can't remember.

Most of the 80s I believe...

[mr. beaumont]

)))

Jeff, I did some actually - but it was spot... on Sometime Ago a few fragments.

but it was not much and occasional - more for fun.

But I can hear pretty many things without transcribing actually- I mean things that are significant musically in my opinion. (Transcribing is important for application and integration into one's own playing - but 'experienced listening' can be enough for perception)

Could you tell some specific fragment or idea that you found very interesting, specific or challenging - wahtever - so that I would also check it and see if we speak about the same thing?

Thank you

I was more joking, since we had the big thread recently about who did and didn't transcribe...

I suppose the thing I heard that hooked me on Ed as a player was the first thing I heard and tried (and failed) to figure out--his solo on "Just Squeeze Me" from "Pure Desmond."

It almost sounded like an electric piano to my ears...I had never heard jazz guitar played with that kind of soft touch and sustain.

[Jonah]

I was more joking, since we had the big thread recently about who did and didn't transcribe...

I suppose the thing I heard that hooked me on Ed as a player was the first thing I heard and tried (and failed) to figure out--his solo on "Just Squeeze Me" from "Pure Desmond."

It almost sounded like an electric piano to my ears...I had never heard jazz guitar played with that kind of soft touch and sustain.

Yes this is very light and tasty solo (I think it is much in the spirit of Desmond's touch too) and I think I get what you mean amout e-piano.
It's fantastic touch and mastery.

But probably what really attracts my attention is some kind of tension in solo what I was talking about before) - I can't always explain what it really is.. but for me it is definitely connected with pitch choices and their realtion to harmony and rythm.. fro example with Jim Hall I mostly feel immidiately that he is like fumbling searching limits... (even if I know that h ereapeats the ideas it does not matter litterally)...
And this feeling makes every note very important for me - it's like he is building something important step by step..

And with Ed's solos I feel more like general spirit which is very tastful relaxed and pleasent... but I feel that he is quite comfortable with what he has and know musically - even if formally his vocabilary id much bigger that Jim Hall's

Wow.. I actually think I do not understand myself any more...)))

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, I think you can call Ed a safe player in the sense that he's about creating a particular mood/feel, he knows he can do it, and he does it perfectly.

Jim Hall (RIP) started off as that kind of player, I think...you hear his early stuff, and he was very much about making these short, perfect statements...but as time went on, Jim really began to explore. I think sometimes his later work gets ignored, but he was really reaching for something in the 90's-2000's...constantly teetering near the edge...but still absolutely in control.

[Roberoo]

Ed is about the songs and not wanting to mess with the core of them too much. In a number of interviews he clearly states he has a fairly conservative approach that focuses on relaying the melody and the sentiment of the tune. In fact, in one interview he states that when rock music made in roads in the 60s the guitaristic approach was the opposite of everything he cared about and he felt alienated.

That said, his harmonic vocabulary was astounding and very sophisticated. I grew up (?) in Toronto and, when I was a teenager, I saw Ed a few times at George's Spaghetti House in the downtown. My dad always dragged me there. Bickert always played with Don Thompson. At the time I was in the thrall of more "energetic" bluesy players like Benson and say Jeff Beck (Blow by Blow). That said, his playing cast a spell and came across as rather mysterious because I didn't understand what he was doing with his chordal work. All this music was pouring out and yet he hardly seemed to move his hands. It made me realize the the guitar could be a rich, sophisticated harmonic instrument and it wasn't always about blowing and speed. In fact, I now carry very little about that stuff while Ed's stature grows (for me anyway).

[David B]

As great as his records on Concord were, the trio with Clarke and Thompson was probably on the same level as the Bill Evans trio with LaFaro and Motian. Does anyone have any definitive info on what gauge strings he used?
Lorne Lofsky claims .012s
His guitar tech claimed .010s
Reg Schwaeger said he used mixed sets.

11, 13, 16, 24, 34, 46.

[jbernstein91]

I love his playing in this video:

[sgcim]

11, 13, 16, 24, 34, 46.

Wow! Thanks for posting that great feature on EB! I wrote a long post on it, but wound up erasing it when I kept going back and forth from the article to my post.
Suffice it to say that I always thought he used light strings on the Sackville recordings. He might have changed to a heavier set on his Concord recordings.